Tuesday, August 15, 2017

31 Teams in 31 Days - Boston Bruins

Third last stop on the review tour this summer! Boston.

1. Zach Senyshyn - Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds
A bit of a deja vu year for Senyshyn. Hits the 40 goal plateau again, with exactly 65 points. Senyshyn remains one of the OHL's elite skaters. And when you pair that with his size and puck protection ability, you've got one of the toughest wingers to stop one on one in the league. Also possesses an extremely heavy wrist shot. It's rinse/repeat for him. Use his speed to drive the net, with and without the puck, and get to those scoring lanes. Felt he improved his physical intensity a little bit this year. Saw him be more aggressive in front of the net, using his size to gain positioning. But the things I mentioned in last year's article (playmaking/vision, two-way game) remain works in progress IMO and will need to continue to improve as he moves to the pro level next year. That North/South game definitely will work and his speed will play, but he will need to utilize his teammates better at the pro level, as beating defenders one on one will not be as easy. And I'd still love to see him develop as a forechecker with his size and speed. I still think he'll be a 20 goal scorer as an AHL rookie next year, but he may take a few years before he's ready for a top 6 role on the big club.

2. Jack Studnicka - Oshawa Generals
Great pick by the Bruins this year. Studnicka is a hard working, two-way center with offensive upside. Got better and better as the year went on, gaining confidence in his offensive abilities. Finished the year with a great OHL playoffs and an impressive appearance at the Under 18's. Really like how Studnicka sees the ice and well effective he is without the puck. He's certainly not the quickest, but he consistently beats defenders to loose pucks and to scoring lanes because he works harder, and because he anticipates the play well. It will be interesting to see how his offensive game develops over the next two years. He will need to get quicker, especially his first few steps, to make him more effective driving the middle of the ice to create plays off the rush. Would also love to see him become a little more physically intense, upping that grit element to his game to really take that two-way ability to the next level. Lastly, adding strength will make him a more effective puck carrier and should improve his shot. Next year in Oshawa, he'll be a go to offensive player and should be a point per game player. In fact, I'm betting he cracks the 70+ point mark.

About Me

Brock Otten is a former writer for Hockeysfuture and has contributed to PuckLife magazine, in addition to other hockey websites (UHN, LSR, etc). All articles of this blog also appear at www.thescout.ca